Ryan Wexelblatt, the director of an Upper Perkiomen summer camp, has been charged with failing to report a sexual assault of a camper around July 4. (Photo courtesy the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.)

COURTHOUSE — The director of a Pennsburg camp for special needs children allegedly failed to report to authorities a suspected case of child sexual abuse by two juveniles at the camp, according to authorities.

Ryan Wexelblatt, 41, of the 200 block of Williams Avenue, Narberth, was arraigned before District Court Judge Catherine Hummel Fried in Red Hill on charges of persons required to report suspected child abuse, unsworn falsification to authorities and obstructing administration of law or other governmental function in connection with alleged incidents that occurred at Camp Sequoia in the 200 block Seminary Street in Pennsburg between July 4 and 8.

“The camp director chose to, rather than report the event to law enforcement authorities or take official action, to simply send the involved juveniles home, put them on a plane…so that it could not be investigated,” Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman alleged as she announced Wexelblatt’s arrest on Wednesday.

“It certainly appears there was an effort to cover up the crime…,” Ferman alleged. “Incidents of child abuse can’t be investigated if they’re never reported. That’s why it’s so important that people who are in positions of trust, taking care of children, have this obligation to report crimes of child abuse.”

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Under state law, Wexelblatt, as a child care worker, had a mandatory responsibility to report alleged sex assaults of children to law enforcement or to child protective services.

Ferman said she finds Wexelblatt’s alleged conduct “troubling” especially in light of recent publicity surrounding charges against Penn State’s ex-president and two former top school administrators who are accused of a cover-up in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

“In this day and age there is such attention being placed, as it should be, on failure to report. When an institution or an individual fails to report child abuse and allows a child victim to endure what they have in silence, that in and of itself is a significant crime and we take that very seriously,” Ferman said.

“Considering all the publicity surrounding the Sandusky case…knowing all of the attention that has been given to failure to report of individuals and institutions, I do find it quite surprising that someone running an organization would try to cover up what had happened and not report to law enforcement,” Ferman added.

Camp Sequoia offers a six-week summer program for special needs children with poor social skills and children from throughout the country attend the camp, authorities said. According to its website, the overnight summer camp caters to boys ages 8 to 17 who are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

A woman who answered the phone at the camp’s offices, and wished to remain anonymous, said Wexelblatt has decided to step down as camp director while the legal matter is resolved.

“The Camp Sequoia leadership staff are fully committed to the remaining two weeks of the summer for all the campers and expect the transition to be seamless,” the woman said.

On July 7, the Upper Perkiomen Police District received information from the Crime Stoppers internet tip line alleging that a juvenile had been sexually assaulted by two other juveniles while in his dorm room at the summer camp. The anonymous tipster further alleged Wexelblatt, the director of the camp, did not report the assault to the proper authorities.

When detectives attempted to interview the juvenile victim on July 8, Wexelblatt “told the authorities that they would not be permitted to talk with the victim,” according to the arrest affidavit filed by county Detective Drew Marino and Upper Perkiomen Detective Matthew Boaman. After confronting Wexelblatt with the seriousness of the allegations Wexelblatt did allow the alleged juvenile victim to be interviewed, court papers indicate.

The investigation revealed that during the overnight hours of July 4 into July 5 the juvenile victim disclosed to camp counselors that he had been sexually assaulted while in his room that night. Those counselors immediately went up the chain of command, notifying the most senior counselor who, in turn, reported it to Wexelblatt early in the morning on July 5, according to court documents.

The investigation revealed Wexelblatt briefly interviewed all of the juveniles involved in the assault, court papers indicate. Wexelblatt, according to court papers, allegedly described the incident as “a serious prank.”

Wexelblatt allegedly told a camp counselor to get the two juveniles who allegedly assaulted the victim “out of the camp” and never discussed calling the police with the counselor, according to the criminal complaint. Two counselors then drove the two boys, who live in Chicago and Florida, to the Philadelphia International Airport where the boys boarded planes and headed home, authorities alleged.

“(A counselor) said that Wexelblatt had the two boys out of camp mere hours after the incident was reported to him,” Marino and Boaman alleged.

“He chose to ignore and hide the facts provided to him. He also made the task of investigating the crime more difficult or impossible for the police by flying the juveniles of interest home. He also impeded the initial investigation by denying police access to the victim,” Marino and Boaman alleged.

Ferman praised the anonymous tipster who notified authorities about the alleged incidents.

“I give them great credit and I wish I could thank them personally for sharing that information because they did a great service to this child who had been hurt,” Ferman said. “I have no way of knowing who it was but I certainly appreciate the fact that someone took action and they did not allow this child to suffer in silence.”

Wexelblatt’s bail was set at $20,000 while he awaits his Sept. 12 preliminary hearing on the charges. Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman will prosecute the case.